Cerberus Ships
Cerberus ships are hostile, NPC-controlled ships that maneuver towards and attack player-controlled ships.They can be found while revealing sectors in your home Yellow Star as well as stationed in White Stars, Blue Stars, and are the main enemy in Red Star Missions. Cerberus ships only become activated when a player-controlled ship enters their sector. None of the Cerberus ships (save for the Interceptor) will leave its home sector in pursuit of players. All Cerberus entities save for Cerberus Stations spawn in Red Stars and Blue Stars. In yellow stars, Sentinels, Guardians, Colossus, Storm, and all three base types spawn. In White Stars, a player will only find Sentinels, Guardians, Interceptors and Bombers. DPS is an acronym, short for Damage Per Second. DPS is a function time; players use the measure to gauge how much damage a battleship will receive in a given amount of time. AU stands for an Astronomical Unit; the measure of AU does not refer to the standard AU used by astronomers, rather it is an unspecified unit of astronomical distances. Sentinel "Sentinels have weak hulls but are equipped with a very powerful Battery. They pose little threat individually, but are deadly in large numbers or when covered behind stronger Cerberus ships. Sentinels will always stay within their assigned sector." Sentinels are the first type of Cerberus ships new players will encounter. These ships mostly appear in ones and twos in Level 1-2 Red Star Missions, but they will spawn in much greater numbers later on. When strategically positioned behind other Cerberus ships, multiple Sentinels are dangerous to Battleships mounting only single-target weapons, like Battery or Laser. Their incredible damage output makes them very good at melting battleships not properly equipped to deal with multiple targets. In RS6 or higher, Rockets, Dual Laser or Mass Battery can help deal with large swarms of Sentinels. The Cerberus Phoenix, encountered in RS8 and above, spawns 3 Sentinels when destroyed -- a nasty parting gift for the attacking player. Guardian "A strong ship that Cerberus often use to provide cover for Sentinels. Guardians always stay within their assigned sector." Guardians are much stronger than Sentinels in terms of hull strength. However, they mount a much weaker battery. A single Guardian is not a problem, but when there are Sentinels hiding behind them, this can complicate the situation. Guardians are well suited to taking hits for Sentinels; this allows the Sentinels to put their damage output to use, quickly dispatching the health of the player’s Battleships. Attack strategically or mount multi-target weapons to clear out any Sentinels first. The battery mounted by Guardians is commonly referred to as the "Guardian battery." It is shown in-game as a normal battery, but it deals less damage than the Weak Battery. The Guardian piloting AI vectors the ship in front of Sentinels regardless of position; use this to your advantage. A two-pronged attack is usually very effective. Interceptor "A fast and powerful Cerberus ship that can simultaneously fire against 4 enemy ships. The Interceptor will become Activated when an enemy ship enters its assigned sector. Once Activated, it will hunt down enemy ships across all sectors, making it very dangerous against non-combat ships." In public Red Stars, the interceptor will only hunt down and engage the ships of the player that activated it and will ignore other players' non-combat ships. The interceptor will not fire at other players' ships even if the target is within weapons range. The interceptor will not attack the another player's ships unless engaged by said player. The Interceptor is a dangerous ship that is different from every other Cerberus craft encountered in previous Red Stars. Its engagement tactics and rules are quite eccentric when compared to the mundane Guardian or the unruly Sentinel. An Interceptor is equipped with a Mass Battery, which allows it to simultaneously fire at up to 4 targets: this makes it difficult to target with Alpha and Delta rockets. It travels significantly faster than any friendly ships, including the Battleship. Most importantly, an activated interceptor does not stay within its assigned sector. The Interceptor will become Activated once a player's ship has entered its assigned sector or is within weapons range. It can also become Activated if targeted by a Rocket. Non-combat ships can activate Interceptors. Once it has become Activated, it will begin to chase down all ships in the Red Star, prioritizing the closest ship of the Activating player, including support ships. In ''Public ''Red Stars, non-combat ships that do not belong to the Activating player will not be fired upon; this condition can be revoked by engaging the Interceptor. Colossus "A massive Cerberus ship that requires a lot of firepower and coordination to bring down. This ship always stays within its assigned sector." The Colossus is a large, dangerous ship which behaves much like a Guardian in terms of its course-plotting when reacting to a player entering its sector. The plotted course will usually result in the Colossus being closer to the entry point of the player's ships when compared to the plotted course of another ship, such as a Sentinel. Unlike previous Cerberus ships, the Colossus is extremely tanky and can dish out a lot of damage. It boasts the second-highest Hull Strength and Shield Strength values of all Cerberus ships, mounting a level 1 Laser which can shred through the shield and hull of a careless player's Battleship in no time. A Colossus is best taken on with 3 Battleships with either EMP or high-level shield and weapon modules, but it is still possible to defeat one using two Battleships. First encountered in Red Star 5, the Cerberus Colossus can be an intimidating new opponent, especially to players with only 2 Battleships or lower-leveled modules. Defeating a Colossus requires coordination with other players, if possible, and lots of micromanagement. A nice way of dealing with them without losing too much health on a Battleship is to attack in a group of three. Once a ship takes around half it's shield's worth of damage, move it away out of range of the Colossus, then have it return once the Colossus retargets. This cycles fresh ships and shields to face the heat of a Colossus's laser, retaining the hull of your ships and balancing the damage taken. The high hull strength and Salvage module also means that it's typically a good idea to clear out other Cerberus forces if possible before focusing on the Colossus. A powerful single-target weapon like Laser or Battery is an excellent choice for peeling down the Shields and Hull of a Colossus. Other modules such as Suppress, Stealth, EMP, and Fortify can interrupt the laser or force the Colossus to change targets can also be useful against a lone Colossus. EMP can be risky and is generally not advisable. Experienced and audacious players alike may seek to merely distract the Colossus with their Battleships rather than fully engaging it, since killing a Colossus takes at least 3 minutes with 3 Battleships. While not recommended for support ships without Sanctuary, this strategy can save time when retrieving artifacts from higher level Red Stars. For experience against these ships, it is recommended to conduct private Red Star missions, to familiarise yourself against these ships. Also, having a more experienced Corporation member come with you is a great way to defeat these ships and learn some tactics. A single Colossus is tough but is no match against 6 or more Battleships in close formation. Destroyer "These mysterious Cerberus ships are known to jump in Red Stars and destroy entire planets with their powerful beams. They do not directly fire on your ships." Destroyers always jump into the system from within the same sector of the Red Star itself. Destroyers always jump into the system within the first minute, usually right away. Destroyers cannot attack players, but can still really mess up the situation by destroying a planet. It is to your benefit to take these out as soon as possible. Cerberus Destroyers come equipped with the Vengeance module, which, if allowed to activate (as is generally the case,) will deal 4,000 damage to any player-controlled ship within 100 AU. Unique Parameters of the Destroyer: Planet Dest ruction range: 100AU Neutralized Vengeance Module damage range: 100AU Bomber The Bomber is a very strong ship that regularly fires a rocket every 20 seconds towards each participating player that has a ship in the bomber's sector or any adjacent sectors. The bomber will always stay within its assigned sector, but the rockets can be fired into adjacent sectors. The bomber course-plotting AI tries to distance itself as much as possible from the player's ships; it will set a course for the farthest possible asteroid field from the player's fleet while remaining within its assigned sector. The bomber will react to any further movement according to the same rules for the entire duration of the engagement. These ships can be especially dangerous if placed in adjacent sectors to each other. Best to engage with Barrier in order to not only temporarily stun the rockets fired by these ships, but to keep them in your weapons range as well. A lot of coordination is required to face off these ships, its recommended to engage their sectors in duos. The bomber can launch its rockets to its adjacent sectors. Phoenix Surrounded by Sentinels, mounting a dual laser, equipped with more armor than a Colossus and an area shield, this incredibly deadly ship is best avoided for all but the strongest players. The Phoenix earns its namesake by spawning three Sentinels after being destroyed; a nasty parting gift. While the Phoenix will always stay within its sector, its area shield is large enough to spill over into adjacent sectors. Because it usually patrols the sector edge closest to the player, this can complicate the clearing of adjacent sectors since the area shield will protect any Cerberus ship within its radius. By disabling its area shield with a combination of EMP, rockets and dual laser, you might be able to survive until its hull armor is depleted. Engagements involving the Phoenix can be quite unpredictable in outcomes. Storm "This ship always follows a circular path within its sector. It is equipped with a powerful long range weapon that regularly launches fast Dart missiles against all enemy ships in range. It can fire on the player's ships on their Jumpgate if in range, even if no ships are moving." One of the only Cerberus ships equipped with a module that players cannot obtain, the Storm can unleash a hail of firepower upon the players' ships with its Dart Barrage. This ship is best taken on with a group of battleships, with a mix of single and multiple target weapons. Barrier, EMP and/or Suppress modules are recommended when engaging this ship, as the hail of DART rockets can deal a deadly amount of damage. This Cerberus Ship has a much larger attack radius than others. Keep in mind that it can attack ships docked on a warp gate! Ghost Ghosts are a group of fast ships that jump in unpredictably and move collectively to the nearest target, anywhere in the star system. They spawn out of Ghost Jumpgates that appear randomly on the map during the whole Red Star mission. Ghost jumpgates can not be targeted or used as a move target. After the appearance of a jumpgate it will start a countdown of 40 seconds, release the Ghosts and then disappear afterwards. Ghost Ships are immune to all modules that don't do damage, and do not count as ships for certain modules like Barrage and Salvage. They are protected by the shield of a Phoenix. Cerberus Bases Cerberus Bases are hostile, immobile units that can be found from new sectors in yellow stars. All Cerberus bases will continuously spawn and replenish one Cerberus Guardian daily. Do not attempt to approach a base before building a sizable combat fleet. Destroy the Weak Cerberus Bases using a fly-by tactic. If possible, position your Battleships in such a way that they can target the Base with their weapons, but are still out of range. Alpha, Delta, and Blast shield modules are not effective shields to use when attacking Cerberus bases. Passive and Omega shield is the best idea, as they can soak up much more damage in a shorter span of time. Weak Cerberus Base Cerberus Base Strong Cerberus Base Category:Cerberus Ships Category:Sentinel Category:Guardian Category:Colossus Category:Interceptor Category:Destroyer Category:Cerberus Bases